Zulu child

I am writing in reply to D. Chandramouli's letter titled Foster mother and child in the May 14, 1996 edition of The Jakarta Post.

Firstly I would like to point out a couple of facts. The child in question had not been legally adopted by his white mother but fostered. His natural mother was the servant of the foster mother, i.e. a master-servant situation where the master could have undue influence upon the servant.

The British legal system does not base all of its decisions on precedents and common law. There is a comprehensive Children Act, enacted by parliament which contains a clause about who is legally entitled to obtain custody of a child. The priority goes to a child's natural parents, it would be absurd if that was not the case.

There are strict laws regarding adoption, a mother must give full legal consent to forgo her rights as a natural mother. It would be sad if a mother could lose her natural child just on a spoken whim, or on a master-servant basis, and there must be safeguards against this.

The strongest human emotion is the bond between a mother and her child. The boy may have wanted to stay with his foster mother now, but who is to stay what he would have felt when he was old enough to understand that he had been taken from his natural mother and roots? Children are fickle and I expect he will grow to love his natural mother. The English judges interpreted the law as it had been written, and at the end of the day for the best.

The suggestions that Mr. Chandramouli puts forward for the best course of action is impracticable. I doubt that a maid could afford to fly to England on a regular basis to see her son, and likewise the foster mother may not be affluent enough to send the boy to Africa every year. This would also only serve to confuse the boy even more, having to spend time in two completely different cultures. A clean cut is far easier for all parties, instead of reopening the wounds every year.

It is undoubtedly a very sad situation for all three parties but it would be a bad precedent to deny a child of what is his birthright.

ANNE-MARIE ELIZABETH TAPP

Cilegon, West Java